Media and Opposition Access to Polling Stations
	What are the rules for media access to polling stations and for observers from political parties?
	Media receive accreditation to cover the poll ten days before the vote through official requests sent to Central Election Commission Chairman Garegin Azarian. Political parties can delegate an unrestricted number of proxies to monitor voting, though only two party proxies at a time are allowed inside a polling station.

Election Monitoring
	How many international and local observers will there be?
	The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will have the largest group of monitors, 29 long-term observers, who have been working in the country since the end of March, and an expected 312 short-term observers. The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (52 observers), the Commonwealth of Independent States (186 observers), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (60 observers), the European Parliament (8 observers) and the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (31 observers) will also survey the vote. There are 3,827 local observers taking part in the elections, representing non-governmental organizations ranging from It's Your Choice, Armenia's largest election observation organization, to various human rights offices. [The Open Society Assistance Foundation - Armenia, which will be among the observers, and EurasiaNet.org both operate under the auspices of the Open Society Institute.]

Election Results
	When will the results be announced? How are votes counted?
	By law, the results for first-past-the-post races must be ready by May 17. Results for the 90 seats elected by proportional voting must be ready by May 19. (Results will be published online at http://www.elections.am) Vote tabulation of the paper ballots is done by hand. Polling stations will submit protocols to territorial electoral commissions, which submit the data to the Central Election Commission via a local computer network for compilation of the final results.

Election Commissions
	How are the Central Election Commission and territorial commissions formed?
	Under recent amendments to the election code, President Kocharian, the Council of Court Chairmen, and parliamentary factions can nominate one member each to the Central Election Commission, 41 territorial commissions and 2,000 constituency election commissions. Based on their presence in parliament, opposition parties are a minority on these commissions. Despite extensive training for the 2007 vote, impressions of the commissions' reliability are mixed among ordinary Armenians. In an attempt to foil bribery, however, all members are now paid for their participation. A quorum, though, is no longer necessary for commission sessions to be held or decisions to be passed -- a detail some critics fear could mean fresh opportunity for irregularities. (

Disputed Results
	What is the process for contesting a vote result?
	Requests for vote recounts must be made to territorial election commissions between May 14 and May 17. Decisions of election commissions may also be appealed.